The case of Cyprus and other front-line migrant receiving countries is being closely monitored and where necessary a contingency plan will be drawn up, said Europol Deputy Executive Director Jean-Philippe Lecouffe.
According to a statement from the Parliament, Mr. Lecouffe was responding to questions raised by the Member of Parliament, Chrysanthos Savvidis, during the work of the 15th Meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Audit Group (JGA) of Europol, which took place within the framework of the parliamentary dimension of his Hungarian presidency Council of the European Union.
The Director of Europol said that there are five invited Europol officials in Cyprus and that if the need arises, their number will be increased.
Specifically, as reported, the Cypriot Member of Parliament addressed a question as to whether the member states are willing to accept the fair redistribution of immigrants based on the size of each member state and whether there is the political will on the part of the EU to impose sanctions on Turkey for non-implementation of the agreement with the EU on the readmission of migrants.
Mr. Savvidis stated that "there is no doubt that the immigration situation in Cyprus is caused, among other things, by the instrumentalization of immigration from Turkey and the channeling of illegal immigrants through the occupied and the cease-fire line, to the controlled by the Republic of Cyprus areas, with serious impacts on housing, education and the health system in Cyprus".
The Cypriot Member of Parliament, in his intervention during the debate on preventing security threats and the attack on Solingen through the management of illegal immigration, referred to the need to find a European solution to deal with this phenomenon, which he characterized as a modern Lernaean Hydra".
He added that "the problem is getting bigger and bigger because of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza."
For his part, the Member of Parliament, Ilias Myrianthous, in his intervention on the subject of the fight against cybercrime and in particular crimes using artificial intelligence (AI), referred to a recent Europol Report entitled "Assessment of threats from organized crime on the Internet" .
He said that "there is now concern in the EU about the use of IT by cybercriminals, as millions of victims across the EU in 2023 were targeted and exploited on a daily basis online, with the perpetrators of these crimes in many cases minors".
As the Cypriot MP mentioned, the AI Regulation will come into force in August 2026 and questioned whether law enforcement authorities are equipped with appropriate and sufficient tools, legislation and knowledge to be able to effectively deal with the ongoing new challenges and threats taking place every day in cyberspace.
In addition, in relation to the formation of various administrative bodies for the proper implementation of the Regulation, Mr. Myrianthous requested relevant information, as well as whether considerations have been made for the participation of representatives of national parliaments in the monitoring group for the implementation of the European Parliament's Regulation on IT.
Finally, Mr. Myrianthous asked if there are any EU funding plans for member states to develop AI technologies, citing as an example the USA and China which have invested billions in this field.
